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Association of physicians’ illness perception of fibromyalgia with frustration and resistance to accepting patients: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to elucidate whether physicians’ illness perceptions correlate with their frustration or resistance to accepting patients with fibromyalgia (FM). In this cross-sectional postal survey, questionnaires were sent to member physicians of the Japan College of Rheumatology and Japan Rheumatism Foundation. Measures collected included the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire with Causal Attribution, the Illness Invalidation Inventory, and the Difficult Doctor–Patient Relationship Questionnaire (DDPRQ-10). Multiple logistic regression was performed to examine associations between the DDPRQ-10 and resistance to accepting patients with FM for treatment. We analyzed data from 233 physicians who had experience in consulting with patients with FM. Only 44.2 % answered that they wanted to accept additional patients with FM. Physicians’ frustration was associated with difficulty controlling symptoms, patients’ emotional responses, and causal attribution of FM to patient internal factors. Conversely, lower levels of frustration were associated with causal attributions to biological factors and uncontrollable external factors. However, the “difficult patient” perception did not correlate with resistance to accepting patients with FM. Difficulty controlling symptoms with treatment was the one factor common to both physicians’ frustration and resistance to accepting patients with FM. Physicians may hesitate to accept patients with FM not because of the stigmatic image of the “difficult patient,” but instead because of the difficulty in controlling the symptoms of FM. Thus, to improve the quality of consultation, physicians must continuously receive new information about the treatments and causes of FM.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellows during the fiscal years of 2010–2012. We thank all of the participants in this study and the members of the Department of Health Communication at The University of Tokyo.

Disclosures

Mieko Homma, Hirono Ishikawa, and Takahiro Kiuchi report no disclosures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Communication, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Mieko Homma, Hirono Ishikawa & Takahiro Kiuchi

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  1. Mieko Homma
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  2. Hirono Ishikawa
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  3. Takahiro Kiuchi
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Correspondence to Mieko Homma.

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Homma, M., Ishikawa, H. & Kiuchi, T. Association of physicians’ illness perception of fibromyalgia with frustration and resistance to accepting patients: a cross-sectional study. Clin Rheumatol 35, 1019–1027 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-014-2752-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-014-2752-6

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